Napkin-clasp



J. W. BARLOW.

NAPKIN CLASP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28. 1919.

1,333 1, 17 8. Patented Feb. 17,1920.

fig Z- M //v l/E/V TUE; W 17 17 Z7 A 7 7Y5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. BARLOW, OF QUINCY, lTaIASSACEIUSETTS, ASSZIGNGR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO BOSTON SANITARY GOZVZPANY, OF EGSTON, M1- SSACHUSETTS, A CORPORA- TION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

NAPKIN-CLASP,

Application filed June 28, 1919.

To (6 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN 1V. BARLOW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Quincy, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Napkin-Clasps, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention is embodied in the im proved construction hereinafter described and claimed, of a clasp adapted to be supported by a strap depending from a belt worn 011 the body, and to be conveniently and securely engaged with port the latter.

f the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a side View of my improved clasp. J i

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a side view, showing the clasp contracted.

Fig. 4 is a side view engaged with a napkin.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a side view showing the clasp of the clasp as it appears before the confining ring shown by Figs. 1, 2, and 3 is applied.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

y improved clasp is an open compressible frame, formed from a length of resilient wire. The frame includes a neck 12 forming one end of the frame, arms 13, 13 forming the sides of the frame, and fingers 14, 14 forming the opposite end of the frame. The neck is adapted to be held in a loop on a strap 15 depending from a belt, and is bent from its end portions which join the arms 13 inwardly toward the center of the frame. This bending of the neck converts it into a non-setting spring which normally forces the arms 13 away from each other. I use the term non-setting because I have found that the spring thus formed is free from liability to become set or lose its resilience. The fingers 14 have free end portions which stand side-by-side and are in sliding contact with each other. Said free end portions are provided with extensions which are bent to form hooks 17, 17, the ends of which are adapted to meet below the end of the frame formed by said fingers, each hook being in sliding contact with the finger 14 carrying the other hook. The slid- Specification of Letters Patent.

a safety napkin to sup- Patented Feb. 17, 1920. Serial No. 307,293.

ing contact is maintained by a ring 18 which loosely embraces one of the fingers 14 and the hook 17 on the other finger, the ring preventing the ngers and hooks from springing laterally away from each other.

The fingers 14 are preferably inclined from their junction with the arms 13, toward the center of the frame, so that their free endportions are raised above their outer end portions when the clasp is in position for use.

To engage a napkin 20 with the clasp the frame is first contracted, as shown by Fig. 3, by inward pressure on the arms 13, this operation separating the hooks 17. hooks are separated, an end portion of the napkin is passed through the frame and into the space between the hooks. The frame is then allowed to expand, and the ends of the hooks are caused by the eXpansion of the frame to grip the fabric interposed between said ends. Portions of the napkin now depend from opposite sides of the frame, and another portion exerts downward pressure on the raised free end portions of the fingers 14. This pressure forces the ends of the hooks 17 against the interposed fabric with sufiicient positiveness to cause said ends to grip the fabric and prevent it from slipping between the hook ends.

The wire forming the frame is bent, so that the normal form of the frame is that shown by Fig. 6. The non-setting spring formed by the bent neck 12 normally holds the arms 13 widely diverging from each other and the hooks 17, widely separated, so that, when the arms are pressed inwardly to impart to the frame the form shown by Fig. 1, and confined by the operation of bending a short piece of wire around one of the fingers 14 and the hook on the other finger, to form the ring 18, the resilient neck 12, in its effort to assume the form shown by 6, exerts a strong pressure on the hooks in the directions required to force their ends toward each other, and cause said ends to firmly grip the interposed fabric. The neck 12, bent as shown, is adapted to have a limited central bearing on the strap 15, so that the strap does not exert pressure on the end portions of the neck, and does not interfere with the described action of the neck in exerting pressure on the hooks. The fingers 14 collectively form a frame-end formed'to permit the napkin portion resting thereon lVhile the p silient wire,

to spread laterally and lie smoothly on said frame end, as shown by Fig. 4, without forming an objectionably thick bunch. The inclination of their inner to their outer end portions facilitates the lateral spreading of the napkin portion bearing on the frame end formed by said fingers.

I claim: 1. A napkin clasp comprising a comressible frame formed from a length of reand including a strap-engaging neck forming one end of the frame, arms connected by the neck and forming the sides of the frame, the said neck being bent from its outer end portions toward the center of the frame to convert the neck into a nonsetting spring, normally pressing said arms away from each other, and adapted to have a limited central bearing on a strap, fingers extending inwardly from the arms and the fingers downward fr0mforming the opposite end of the frame, said fingers having free end portions which overlap and are slidable each on the other, and curved hooks constituting extensions of the free ends of the fingers, the ends of said hooks being normally abutted together by the resilient neck, and separable from each other by inward pressure on said arms, and a ring loosely embracing one of said fingers and the hook on the other finger, to confine said fingers and hooks in sliding contact with each other. 7

2. A napkin clasp substantially as specified by claim 1, the said fingers being inclined from their junction with the arms toward the center of the frame, so that their free end portions are raised above their outer end portions.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

JOHN W. BARLOW. 

